Apple Watch: Things Not Looking Very Bright Even After A Year

The Apple Watch, which is about a year old now, can be seen as the most successful smartwatch released, but it is not exactly showing as much success as the iPhone and iPad once did. What’s more concerning is, according to a projection by analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities, Apple’s smartwatch shipments are going down.

Not as good as other Apple products

Despite the fact that Apple is planning to release a second-generation watch, shipments of the first-gen watch are actually going to fall 25% this year, projects the well-connected analyst.

However, it should be noted that the people using the Apple Watch are satisfied with it, with 77% of owners thinking the device is a success and two-thirds of them planning to upgrade to the newest version of the watch whenever it comes out, says a new survey (via Re/code) from advertising company Fluent. It is all great, but among the general population, the thinking is not similar as around 53% of people do not see the Apple Watch as a successful product.

What’s even more interesting is the reason Apple Watch owners have given for not buying the next-generation smartwatch. Around 34% think the price of the watch is too expensive, and 31% said the device is not useful enough to buy, while another 16% feel the device is “ugly.”

No need for this product

The gadget has not shown that it can perform enough useful functions to make the average person think, that “yes, this is something that’s worth a few hundred dollars as it’s exciting and will help me in my life,” wrote Apple Watch owner Mike Murphy at Quartz. Murphy also told readers that whenever he wears the watch and people ask him if they should buy it too, he usually answers no.

Murphy admits that he likes making mobile payments via the watch and says that its health tracking capabilities such as the heart-rate, step and exercise monitoring functions are more useful, easier and more reliable than those on other ecosystems like Jawbone and Fitbit, but there are other cheaper health devices in the market as well.

Murphy also believes that it has become apparent after a year of its launch that “there really isn’t much of a need to get one.” There are reports that the next version of the watch will be released in June and that it will be 40% thinner than the current models. But Murphy says the question to ask is whether it will be 40% more useful too.

Author: Aman JainAman is MBA (Finance) with an experience on both Marketing and Finance side. He has worked as a Risk Analyst for AIR Worldwide, and is currently leading VeRa FinServ, a Financial Research firm. Favorite pastimes include watching science fiction movies, reviewing tech gadgets, playing PC games and cricket. - Email him at amanjain@valuewalk.com